


Obscured (Don't Tell Me You're My Heart Breaker)

by sweetbaby_1D



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff and Angst, Heartbreak, M/M, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-01-16 06:57:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1336237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetbaby_1D/pseuds/sweetbaby_1D
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I got a secret place that we could go.”<br/>“Cause I really wanna be alone.”<br/>“Baby, nobody else gotta know.”<br/>“Just meet me later, all alone.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Louis is a big name on his high school campus. He's the student body president, captain of the football (soccer) team, extremely wealthy, and honestly the most handsome senior in the district. He throws the best parties- one nearly every weekend. Everyone who's anyone is at every single one, which explains why he never see's that new artsy kid there.

XXX

Zayn is the new transfer student. He's a nobody. He does nothing special, to most of the school. If anything, he's just an art nerd, the art teachers pet. He's attractive, but in a world where social status was everything, that doesn't matter. He's still just someone in the shadows.

XXX

Both boys admire each other from afar. Louis has his reputation to uphold, he can't be seen with just anyone, and Zayn is no one. Zayn is just shy and knows that Louis wouldn't go for him, anyways.

One weekend, Louis throws a huge party, and invites literally the  _whole_  school. He knows that the important people will be there, but he also wants to see the art kid there, too. So, in the confines of the library, where he won't get caught, Louis talks to Zayn and pushes hard to make sure that Zayn will be at his party this weekend. Zayn agrees, maybe it'll help him out in the popularity department, something he could really use.

XXX

At the party, things get crazy and something, however small and insignificant, happens between the two.

But, Louis is Louis and Zayn is Zayn. They can't be together. But they will, just not how anyone expected.


	2. 1

Mrs. Sanders looked around the room full of rowdy kids and wondered, **_how the hell did I get stuck with a class room full of footy boys?_** There were a few extra kids here and there, but the class was distinctly set apart with the groups. There was the huge cluster of footy boys, the girls that always wore clothes entirely too small, the kids that hated everyone but each other, and the few odd groups now and again. But two stood out. The most well-known person in the school, Louis Tomlinson, sitting in the middle of the class talking to a friend of his, Nick Grimshaw. They were deep in conversation, probably up to no good, though Tomlinson wasn’t a trouble maker.

And then there was the new transfer student, Zayn Malik _‘The Art Prodigy’_ , sitting in a corner alone, his hand moving rapidly over a piece of paper, a concentrated look on his face. No doubt, he was drawing something that would most likely be framed and grace the wall of the high school. She smiled, thinking of the painting she bought the other day at the school auction.

She knew Zayn was incredibly shy and to himself, but she wanted to get him recognized for his amazing skills, so she was having her husband bring the painting from their home to hang on the wall in her classroom. There was a knock on the classroom door, and she grinned, knowing that sound anywhere. It was her husband, probably bringing the artwork like she’d asked.

She opened the door, revealing her husband on the other side, holding the frame that encompassed the colorful artwork. He slid into the room and hung it on the nails she’d set up.

XXX

Zayn raised his head only enough to see what was going on in the front of the classroom. He nearly died from a coughing fit when he saw the painting he’d auctioned off at the schools bi-weekly art sale last week. The auctions were completely anonymous, so he didn’t know who’d won the piece, but he knew they’d paid quite a bit for it, though he didn’t know exactly how much. And to see that it was none other than his English teacher that bought it and was about to put it on display for the entire class, and all of her other classes, to see was sort of nerve wrecking.

On one hand, more people would get to see a piece that meant a lot to him, but on the other, they already thought of him as the weird art kid, this would just make it worse.

He looked around the room slyly, not wanting anyone to see him watching. He saw a few people looking at the work with their heads tilted, a few looking at it like it was trash, and a few not paying attention.

Zayn couldn’t help but smile when he saw Louis Tomlinson, yes, _the_ Louis Tomlinson, looking at the piece with a smile.

XXX

“Wow.” Louis whispered to himself. It was amazing, really, the pride that one could take in being open about his sexuality. Yeah, he was openly bisexual, but he didn’t go around talking about it 24/7 and he mostly dated girls because there wasn’t an abundance of boys that liked boys anywhere close that he felt were okay to be with. It’s not that Louis was an uptight asshole who thought he was better than anyone, he just didn’t like they type of guys that he found to be open, or even partially out.

Louis turned to look at Zayn, surprised to see his head snapping down quickly. He knew Zayn had painted this, but he had no idea when or why. He just knew that he’d put it up for auction. He obviously had a lot of pride in his work, this piece especially, because Louis had never seen him take this much time to look up for whatever he was creating at the time. He was so careless with his school work, it seemed, but he never failed to make the grades that everyone else wish they could have.

What Louis really wanted to know, was where he got the inspiration for the work that was now centered on the wall. Why, of all the things he could have done and sold, he chose this one idea.

“Yo, Earth to Louis.” Nick said beside him, elbowing Louis in the arm. He’d been so caught up in his thoughts on Zayn and his artwork that he’d completely zoned out.

He looked at his best friend, tilting his head a bit as if it would help him remember what they were talking about. “Yeah, where were we?”

Nick sighed, Louis was always so _preoccupied_ with something, **_or someone_** Nick thought, and it was honestly getting to be a bit much. He was damn near ready to just tell Louis to go fuck whoever the hell he was so focused on. “We were finishing up the food, now we need to talk about who all we’re inviting and we’re done.” Nick said, thinking. “We could just send out Facebook messages, tweets, and post on Instagram and tell everyone to just come and bring whoever the hell they want?” He offered.

Louis nodded. “Yeah, let’s do that at lunch.” He said. When he and Nick were done with the planning, they just sat and talked. One reason he liked Mrs. Sanders so much as a teacher, she never made them do shit on Friday, or over the weekend. She was young, no older than 25, and she had a life of her own and didn’t particularly enjoy working on the weekends or more than necessary. Plus, she knew that the kids didn’t want to do the damn work when they weren’t in school for a few days. Some would, but some would forget, and others would just plain refuse

XXX

As soon as lunch came, Louis went to the parking lot and posted all of the information of the social media sites he used, having decided to post a video of himself announcing the party on Instagram and Vine.

When he was done, he headed back into the school to look for the one person he knew wouldn’t get any of those notifications and that no one else would bother to talk to and invite to the party. He checked the art room first, thinking that since that was Zayn’s thing, he would be there drawing or something.

When he didn’t find anything but a dark, empty room, he instantly made his way to the library. He had a feeling that was Zayn’s second favorite hideout. When he wasn’t drawing or doing some artsy stuff, Louis saw him with his glasses on, head nearly buried in a book. It was funny, really, how even though he never said anything to anyone, like _ever_ , that you could tell so much about him. And Louis never bothered to say anything to him either, not wanting to disturb Zayn or risk his status, but he knew so much about him. But there was more, so much he didn’t now, so much that he _wanted_ to know.

He walked into the library, scanning the open areas for Zayn. When he didn’t see him directly in the open, he ventured further into the enclosed space, searching between shelves, looking at the tables in the back, everywhere. When he finally found Zayn, he was sitting at a small table in a corner in the very back of the library, reading of course.

Louis took a deep breath. He was about to talk to Zayn for the first time and he didn’t want to fuck anything up, or bother him. He approached the oblivious boy slowly, clearing his throat quietly to catch his attention.

XXX

Zayn looked up, lifting one eyebrow in surprise when he saw Louis Tomlinson, of all people, walking towards him. He was shocked, to say the least. He’d never thought he’d ever in a million years actually talk to Louis. It wasn’t that Louis was a bad person, hell he was really nice and pretty friendly, just Zayn had never imagined having the pleasure of talking to him. He could never have guessed that the soft pretty voice he adored hearing would be directed at him. But when Louis started talking, Zayn almost smiled because he was gorgeous and his voice was smooth as he spoke to Zayn and Zayn almost couldn’t help it. _Almost._

“Hey.” Louis said. “Uh, I’m Louis.” He said, laughing at himself when he saw Zayn raise a quizzical eyebrow at him as if to say, **_well yeah, dumbass I know that._** “Sorry, sorry. Of course you already knew that… Shit, now I sound like a douche. Fuck, okay.” Louis stuttered, and Zayn _had_ to smirk at that, because really, when was Louis Tomlinson ever nervous and not confident? And why with Zayn, he was nobody.

Louis laughed, looking at Zayn and smiling because for once, he saw something other than the neutral expression he always wore. And damn was that one pretty smirk.

“Okay, let me try this again. Hey, Zayn.” _He knew his fucking name!_ “Uh, I know you aren’t like, involved with like Facebook and shit like that, so I wanted to personally tell you this. Uh, me and my friend Nick, ya know, Grimmy? Well, we’re having a huge party this weekend, at my place. And I was wondering if you’d want to come? I mean, really, I was coming to like, ask if you would, like, I want you to, so can you please? Like, at least try to come?” Louis fumbled over his words, amusing Zayn. This was new, and he sort of liked it.

He thought about it for a bit. Here was Louis Tomlinson, the guy he’d been fawning over since like, ever since he moved here from Bradford, inviting him to his house for a party, something he never attended. On one hand, he could say yes and get to see Louis in his natural environment, or he could say no and sit at home doing nothing like he always did. Both options sounded equally as inviting, but when he looked up and saw Louis damn near pleading with his eyes, he made up his mind.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, I don’t have your address or anything, but yeah, I’ll come.” Zayn said, and if Louis thought his face and his smirk was pretty, _damn_ , cause his voice was like fucking silk, flowing smoothly into one ear and playing again and again in his head, not leaving out of the other ear.

Louis smiled, nodding his head. “Cool, cool.” He told Zayn all of the details, his address, the time of the party, how he should probably dress, and all of that other shit. When he was done talking about the party, he really didn’t want to stop talking to Zayn, so he honed in on something he knew would keep the conversation going. “So, tell me about that painting Mrs. Sanders brought in today.”

Zayn looked at Louis, questions swirling through his mind. “Uh, how’d you know it was mines?” is ass that he could think to ask.

“Because, I saw it at the auction. I bid on it a few times, thought I was gonna win, too. But she came back and beat me out for it and the auctions ended before I could bid again, so really, I got cheated. I really liked it.” Louis explained, smiling at Zayn’s surprised expression.

“Oh, thanks. Uh, well, it was some graffiti I’d seen on the wall of a corner store back in Bradford. I just… I really liked it because it takes balls to be able to just like, broadcast your sexuality to the world like that, ya know? And the guy who painted it, everyone knew who it was because he’s the only guy who does graffiti back home. So like, we knew it was him. But the thing is, we all thought he was straight, until we saw this big ass rainbow flag saying that basically he was human, whether he was gay or whatever. Cause for whatever fucked up reason, lots of people in Bradford have something against gays and it’s really fucking stupid, but he stood up against it and he put himself out there and it just… like, I guess I just really loved that he could do something like that without giving a fuck what people have to say about it, ya know?”

Louis loved the way that Zayn was smiling as he talked, like this was the best thing to ever happen to him. “So like, I decided to use that as my muse, and he knows I used it, I told him I was going to and he was fine with it. And it just, it really meant a lot to me because like, while we lived there, everyone knew I was gay, and while most of the people at my school were fine with it, it was the adults of the community that always gave me those looks like, like I was trash? And I hated it, but I really couldn’t give any less of a single fuck because I wasn’t gonna hide me for those assholes, ya know? But my parents, they kept getting these people coming to them and telling them that I was an abomination and that they should send me off to a good religious school, because I ‘obviously wasn’t living up to what I was supposed to be doing as a good Muslim’. And they got tired of it, not of the people giving them shit and saying that they weren’t doing right with their parenting, they didn’t give a shit about that. But they said they hated that people were coming to them talking about me like I was a piece of shit and like I shouldn’t deserve to be alive and be gay, right?”

“So like, one day, they told me it was time to go, because these people were treating me like I was nothing, sending their kids to like, talk shit to me or whatever. No one ever touched me though, and yeah it bothered me that that’s what people thought I deserved, but I didn’t care. But they said they didn’t want me dealing with that sort of thing, so we left one weekend, came here. And yeah, I miss home of course, but like, it’s better here, sort of? Like, not that many people are giving me those looks, a few, but not many at all and it feels good. But I miss Bradford, just, like, I was so used to it, been there all my life. But yeah, it’s easier here, in some ways.”

By the time the bell rang, Zayn was mortified with himself. How the hell could he talk and talk and _fucking talk_ until the bell rang? He’d probably talked Louis to death and hadn’t even realized it. He looked up apologetically to see Louis just looking at him with a small smile on his face.

“Sorry, I just got carried away. Didn’t mean to talk that much, sorry.” Zayn mumbled, gathering his things and getting up to leave, Louis doing the same.

“Its fine, I like hearing you talk. This is the first time I’ve ever heard you say anything, and it was a good story, really meaningful.” He said, nodding slowly. “And you have a really pretty voice, we have to talk more often.” He said, winking at Zayn and walking out of the library, leaving Zayn to go to his last two classes in shock.


	3. 2

Zayn walked up to the house with his head down, avoiding as many people and their gazes as he could. He followed someone he knew from the football team into the house, stopping in the doorway to scan the room for Louis. He didn't see him, so he just went into the kitchen, which was relatively empty, and grabbed a coke from a bucket of ice.

He popped open the can, taking a big drink and sighing as the cold drink flowed down his throat and cooled his body that was filled with nervous heat. Parties weren't his thing at all, and he was anxious and nervous about this. But Louis had asked him personally to come, so he was gonna come, and he wasn't gonna leave until he got to see Louis.

Zayn leaned against the island, looking around, scanning the crowd in the living room for someone he knew and would be less uncomfortable with. He jumped when there was a tap on his shoulder, hand flying to his heart. When he turned around, Grimmy was there looking at him in amusement.

"Calm down, mate, no ones gonna hurt you. Louis'd kill anyone who even so much as looked at you funny. Speaking of Lou, he sent me to see if you were here, wants you to meet him out on the balcony," Grimmy said, pointing down a hall where there was obviously a balcony door. "Have fun," he winked, walking away and sniggling.

Zayn took a deep breath and walked to the door, looking out and smiling as he watched Louis look out over the city. He opened the door quietly, walking up behind him. "This is amazing, would make a beautiful painting, for sure," he said quietly, smiling as Louis turned to him and nodded.

"It would, you should paint it one day," he relied. He looked up and down Zayns body, licking his lips as he took in Zayn in a muscle shirt, tattoos covering a nice portion of his arms. "Wow, would have never thought you'd be one to have tattoos. Guess I should have seen it coming, and excuse me for being so corny, but of course there'd be beautiful art and a person who looks like beautiful art and makes beautiful art," Louis mused, smirking despite the color moving into his cheeks.

Zayn raised his eyebrows then burst out laughing suddenly, reaching out to steady himself on the wall. Louis laughed along with him, smiling happily at the heavenly sound Zayn made. "You're so corny, god. But that was also really cute, thank you," he giggled, eyes crinkling at the sides.

"You're welcome, love," Louis said quietly, making Zayn blush this time. "So, as I'm sure Nick told you, I had him come looking for you, and I would have done it myself, but ya know, people would think that was weird."

Zayns smile faltered. He was pretty sure he knew what Louis was implying, but he had invited him over, so just to be sure, Zayn asked. "You mean because you're important within the school and I'm not, yeah?"

The shy look he got from Louis was all he needed, nodding his head slowly. "Of course. I get it, its fine." Louis shook his head slowly, disagreeing with Zayn, who just smiled back. "It is, you're the most popular person at school, if we were to be friends, it'd have to be when people didn't know or suspect because you're you and I'm me and that's not right."

"Zayn, you're making it sound like all I care about is my status. I swear I didn't mean for it to sound like that."

Zayn raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Is that not what you meant, though? Because there's no other that could be important."

Louis sighed, his shoulders sagging. "I mean, yeah, but.... Fuck, I swear I actually like you and you're really cool, but like, it'd look bad for me. I'm sorry, I'm a dick. Fuck."

Zayn laughed, making Louis frown at him. "I'm sorry, but this is funny. I'm used to this Louis, its fine. At this point, I don't even mind being snuck around and hidden. I'd much rather prefer nobody knowing we're friends, because then no one with have a reason to mess with me about anything. Much calmer for me."

Louis shook his head, looking confused. "That's not fair to you, though. Like, nothings wrong with you and you're great, you deserve to be like, open and have friends and not be someone's secret."

Zayn shrugged, smiling. "Well I am, and if we can be friends easiest that way, then I'm all for it." Louis huffed, looking upset and lost, so Zayn put his hand on the side of his cheek and moved his head so that he was looking Zayn directly in the eye. "Louis, I don't mind, alright? I've been sort of wanting to be your friend since I've moved here, and now I can and I don't care how."

Louis shook his head again in disbelief, putting his arms around zayns shoulders and pulling him into a hug. "Wow."

 


End file.
